Contrapt-O-Matic

Came up with this wacky piece of machinery on that way in to work on the train. I still haven't figured out exactly what it does yet. I think it might peel grapes, or it may be a device to learn how to fold paper more than 7 times. One of the pistons doesn't do anything. I think every machine should have one part that has no function.

Stubby

I started doodling on a shuttle ticket stub that was sitting on my desk and this is what happened.

Stuffed Primates

Jess and I went to the LA Natural History Museum this afternoon for a few hours and ended up settling in what I like to call the "Stuffed Animal Wing" to sit and sketch for a little while. It's been a while since I actually sat and drew an animal of any kind, so it was a good exercise. I don't think they are particularly great, but worth showing nonetheless. The second one turned out a little creepy.

Exquisitely Political

After watching the debates tonight and having a nice long conversation about a whole myriad of topics, Jess and I whipped up another exquisite corpse-esque drawing. I drew half and just put it in front of her. I'm sure its completely impossible to tell who did which half. The halves are different, and yet.... there is something to the insanity.

IF - "Clique"

This collage was done in response to the Illustration Friday topic of 'Clique'. I didn't think I was going to come up with anything for this week, but the next thing I knew I was whipping up another collage. I'll let this one speak for itself...

PS: This was also made in the 3.5"x2.5" format. Its a little smaller so instead of a weel of cutting tiny pieces, its only taking two nights.

Add a Splash of Color...

This was something I whipped up on my lunch break. Its another study for future collage efforts, but came out kind of neat all on its own.


If this entry looks jacked up it's because my normal computer is on the outs and in the meantime I am posting on a mac. That is all. Belated Illustraton Friday post coming tomorrow.

Sculptural Construct Idea

Came up with this on the train a couple days ago... more of a structural sculpture, based on conterbalancing something large with something much smaller. Would like to get some actual built study models going before actually jumping into the real deal.

Bamboo Shade

A photo of another lampshade and light from my apartment. Whenever I end up compiling all my photos into little books, I'm sure I will put it with the rest of them.

"Island"

Cloud City is the ultimate Island in the Sky. This strip collage was the result of the most recent studies that I posted. Its the first one of its kind in that the image on the large pieces is obvious, with black strips making up the entire infill. Final collage size ended up being 2.5"x3.5".

"I see a city in the clouds..."

Post-it Doodling

I had some material at work that i have been meaning to scan in and post, but because I keep forgetting to do so, I will just a quick post-it doodle. Which, come to think of it, was still done at work.

The 100th Post Spectacular!

OK, so its nothing more special than any other post, but it is still worth mentioning that I hit the 100 post milestone on this blog today! Not bad, not bad. If I keep up at the rate I'm going now, I just might hit 200 by the end of the year! We'll see if that happens.

Here's another scribble, that I started last week, but was finally able to finish fleshing out over the weekend. I used a little bit nicer ball point pen this time, which yielded a slightly different result than the standard Papermate one I usually use, but it turned out alright nonetheless.

Studies Before Studying

Out of town for the last couple days, so the posting streak came to an abrupt halt. I have been sketching in the meantime, and will be doling out some stuff over the next week while I am studying for my architecture exams.

These are a couple pages of studies for more of my collages. Started doing some prep work for small pieces the other day. I realise that drawing the collages out quickly and actually hashing them out in collage form are two completely different looks, styles and results. It made me think that its time to stop doing hand-drawn studies for the pieced together strip-collages that I make. Perhaps the hand drawn studies will evolve into full-blown pieces in their own right.

Sketchbook Clutter

Keeping in the theme of the week... I wanted to post some studies and preliminary sketches from last night's I.F. post... Since the sketchbook is so cluttered anyway, I just took a quick scan of it and that will be my post for today.

"Clutter"

This was my first foray into the world of "Illustration Friday" where artists are given a new topic every Friday and each person submits their own interpretation of the given topic. Fortunately for me they accept new illustrations the whole week!

I took a very abstract, geometric approach to this topic. I actually made several sketches of this over the last couple days, but it wasn't until I searched through my own clutter and found my old set of inking pens that finally decided to go that route. Its been years since drawing ink-on-mylar, so of course, all of the pens were completely dried and clogged. After over an hour of cleaning nibs, fate rewarded me by only allowing one pen-weight to work.

Here goes anyway!

CD Label Leftovers

Made this arrangement with a mess of those center stickers that are leftover from printed CD labels. Sometimes I just can't bear to throw away something mostly useless that I find while cleaning...

Retro Week '08 Last Day

For the final day of "Too Lazy To Post Anything New" Week, I went under the bed to find an acrylic painting from a few years ago. Pretty sure I was still in school when I made this one... or at least coming to the end of those formative years... I picked this one because it was probably one of the precursors to all the collages I have been making lately. Also, i haven't shown a painting in a while.

I like the idea behind it and color, but of course- this painting (acrylic done on illustration board!) could be improved upon in so many ways if done today. Perhaps that's why its been stored under the bed!


And that wraps up Retro Week 2008. I will have to remember to do this again next year. Tune in tomorrow when I'll start posting some backlogged new material. The recently reorganized (and merged) art supplies and office may also yield some interesting explorations in the weeks to come.

Retro Week... Day 6

Today I dug out a REALLY old sketchbook, and found something to post here. The sketchbook was from Junior-High. I liked drawing and even has mild aspirations of becoming a cartoonist. I was also really into Star Wars at the time. Unfortunately... I was really horrible at drawing people. I think thats probably a big reason why I decided on Architecture. I could draw, get paid and not draw people. So I thought this crappy sketch would be a fitting addition to "Retro Week".

When I brought the sketchbook by the window to get some natural light for the photo, I was interrupted and something far more comical ensued. I have added captions of what it looked like Rufus the cat was thinking when he decided to critique my work...

"What are you doing by my window? Ah I see, let me take a look..."

"Alright, man, I'm going to give you my honest opinion..."

"IT SUUUUUCCCCKKKKSSS!!!!!!"

"But please... you must draw me instead. I insist!"

Retro Week - Day Five

Took a quick photo out of an old sketchbook on this one. Again... the simple ball-point pen makes ink drawings look all shadey. Actually, most of teh sketchbook was filled with irregular doodles fighting against the blue grid of the paper.

OK, its not very exciting but I am tired and unambitious after a long day...

Retro Week... Day 4!

Fall 2001... programmatic study of Gregory Ain's Dunsmuir Flats... The full model of this was 12"x12" and when we presented these, the entire class put them all together on a table... it turned out pretty cool - all of the pieces fitting together... Can't seem to find an image of the class compilation, though. I have a piece of this model in my possession still, it is one of the few physical models I actually kept from school. I must have spent hours sanding these little pieces. sanding, painting, sanding... painting again... more sanding. Then finally gluing. I only had the patience to let one of the units slide in and out of the white base perfectly.

Retro Week - Day 3

Reaching way back to my College of DuPage years on this one - Circa 1999. Found a drafted contraption on vellum slipped into an old sketchbook. Im sure this contraption had some great and fantastic use which i have long since forgotten. Or have I?


Rain water runoff from a memorial I designed would funnel down and collect into this, and amonst the pouring rain would divert the water into these channels which would slowly release trickles of water out of the two holes! You could use the lever to unclog the holes with pegs mounted on another surface. Why this technique is not implemented today is completely beyond me!

Retro Week: Day 2

This was actually the start of a much more elaborate digital collage from one of my architecture studios from school a few years ago (Fall 2003). The final "section" ended up with a black background and a lot more layers, and objects folded into it. Despite that, I always felt this initial, simple rendition captured the idea of the project more than one that incorporated a lot of "extra stuff" for the sake of complexity.

Retro Week 2008 - Day 1

Alright... as my existence at the moment is in a total shambles due to various overhauls, I am going to instate a new segment on my blog and bust out some old work that I have done in the past (art, architecture or otherwise) just to change things up a bit. One week only! It is my hope that these will be a cross-section through various stages in my life. I have no idea what else I am going to do yet... so here goes!

I found these two babies while I was cleaning today. They were a couple of Exquisite Corpse drawings that I did with Jess about 2 years ago. The second one being a nod to my impending birthday (and viking themed party!).